Friday September 7th, 2007 @ 9:07 PM
I have a question regarding an established piercing. I have had both of my earlobes pierced for about four months now. About two weeks ago, my right earlobe started acting up. There was a bump near the piercing, it felt like ther was a knot where the bump was, but it was not hot or discharging. Then about a week later, the left one started in with the same problem. Both of my lobes are better (sea salts). Just recently, about two weeks ago, I started taking up a new task at work. It requires me to put a headset on my head and take customer’s orders. Other people use this headset as well. What I am wondering is if there is a link between this new task and the piercings acting up.
If the head set is putting pressure on the jewelry, then yes that could be the culprit. Just pay attention to how you are putting the head set on, and how it hits the piercing.
- John Joyce
-1 / 1 votes 
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Friday September 7th, 2007 @ 3:24 AM
I have some unsightly hypertrophic scarring on some dermal punch work I’ve had on my ears for a couple of years (see pics). I am wondering, are the over the counter scar removal creams worth looking at, or should I just go to the GP for some cortisone injections?
Downsize the jewelry, do some hot compresses to increase circulation, and make sure you aren’t sleeping on that side or doing anything else to it that will put any pressure on it at all.
- John Joyce
0 / 0 votes
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Sunday September 2nd, 2007 @ 11:40 AM
I just wanted to say how right you are about not popping a boil, especially one near a piercing. I have my right earlobe pierced three times. A few months ago I got what I thought was a pimple above my top piercing. So I popped it. It came back, so I popped it again. Turns out my pimple was actually a boil.
Because I popped it I spread the infection to the top two piercings in my ear. I ended up in the emergency room at 3am to get it double checked by a doctor as I had a fever and a sore, stiff neck and was concerned it was going to spread to the cartilage. My doctor told me it was a good thing I went in that night, if it had spread any further it would have caused a lot more damage. We all know the damage you can get if the infection spreads to the cartilage.<
The next day I went to change the barbells over to a ring, as soon as I grabbed hold of my ear it suddenly became very swollen, all this pus oozed out and my barbell disappeared through the front of my ear and I ended up having to pull it out the back, along with a a few little bits of skin.
So, long story short. Never pop a boil. All it will do is spread the infection. If you’re really concerned about a boil, go to a doctor to get it drained, they know what they’re doing. Luckily the antibiotics plus the sea salt soaks have cleared my ear up.
However, I was most disappointed that the doctor told me to take my jewellery out. The last time I had a doctor tell me that the infection got trapped and now my left ear has some very nasty scar tissue. This time around, thanks to BME I knew to leave something in to let it drain. I also knew that salt water soaks would help with the healing. So now right ear has cleared up and I still have all three of my piercings and no scar tissue.
Thanks heaps BME!
Thanks for sharing your story, you should write up an experience and submit it! I’m glad that you got your boil sorted out before it got any worse, and I’m also glad that the knowledge you gained from BME helped you keep your piercings throughout the healing of your problem. Take care! 
- Lori St.Leone
+1 / 1 votes 
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Sunday September 2nd, 2007 @ 10:36 AM
I am actually allergic to chamomile. WOuld any other kind of tea work with this method?
It’s not so much about the fact that it’s tea, but the properties of the chamomile that seem to help. Have you tried neem oil? It has a lot of anti-inflammatory properties as well (it does a lot of what tea tree oil does, and isn’t nearly as irritating and drying) and many people have great luck with it, it’s a good alternative and a great step when troubleshooting a cranky piercing.
- Lori St.Leone
0 / 0 votes
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Saturday September 1st, 2007 @ 11:41 PM
I had my nose pierced 11 weeks ago. A small keloid had formed–my own fault, as some stuff went down in my personal life and I was crying/blowing my nose a lot right afterwards. It was never really huge, and I continued to do sea-salt soaks and use the piercing solution they gave me with Q-tips. 2 weeks ago, however, I went into the piercing place and they adjusted it for a tighter fit because the piercing was always slipping out of my nose (I have the “L” shaped type of stud, which I think you guys are calling a “screw”?). Anyway, it healed up PERFECTLY, and I was thrilled. Even though it looked 100% healed, I continued to do the sea salt and Q-tips.
Three days ago, I needed to blow my nose. As usual, I used a clean Q-tip to do this, because I didn’t want to upset the piercing. The piercing jewelry was moved *slightly* forward, but I used the Q-tip to gently tip it back into place. Since that happend, a red keloid began to form again–and now, to my horror, it has turned into this white-looking zit like thing, which I’m seeing on the internet is called “THE BUMP.” Everyone on the internet has different ideas for how to heal it. My piercing place says I could come in and they’d pop it and that this bump is just a different kind of keloid. Other things I’m reading say that popping it will cause scarring.
Please help! Why do you think this happened? How would you suggest I care for it, now?
Kate
For the love of God, IT’S NOT A KELOID. I’m not having a go at you, but I am so bloody sick of so-called professional piercers calling every damned thing a keloid, especially ones like this mob, who ar acknowledging that it’s NOT a keloid by stating that it’s “a different type of keloid”. It sounds to me like you have a boil, due to it having some juice in it, and I’m not a fan of popping or squeezing them, as it’s an open door to further infection or more problems from the increased irritation. Hot compresses, as hot as you can stand, generally sort them out, and I’m like the O.G Chamomile Compress Queen of the World, I think - boil up the kettle, make a cup of chamomile tea, let the teabag steep for 5-10 minutes, then plop it on your piercing and chill out in front of the TV or whatever with a teabag on your nose for the next 20-30 minutes. Do this daily for a week or so, it’s cheap and EXTREMELY effective and it won’t exacerbate the situation. Good luck!
P.S. Nostril screws have a curly tail, not an L-shape, and are much more secure and comfy than an L-shape - they get less irritation because you don’t hoik them out on every little thing, like straight or L-shaped studs. Better piercers will custom-bend them to fit your nose, and when fitted properly, they’re super comfortable.
- Lori St.Leone
0 / 0 votes
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Saturday September 1st, 2007 @ 12:00 PM
Hello There smart people of BME QOD
I want to know if a 16g titanium curved barbell is okay jewellery for a horizontal eyebrow?
Thank you.
In my opinion, no way. Yes, some people manage to heal horizontal eyebrows with curved barbells, but I say use a surface bar for a surface piercing. Anatometal makes some mighty fine wee little 16ga babies that work very well, here’s a picture of one in one of my clients.
- Lori St.Leone
+1 / 1 votes
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Saturday September 1st, 2007 @ 11:25 AM
I really want two hip piercing but I can’t convince my parents. I got my belly piercing because I wanted to have a tongue piercing but they thought that it would be a bit to extreme.
They only say “wait until you are 18″ and ” don’t destroy your body more then what you already have”
I have really wanted those hip piercing for a very long time now. Could someone give me some advise how to convince them? And please, don’t say “then wait until you are 18 then
Guess what, Steph? I don’t know of too many terribly ethical piercers who do surface piercings on minors, parental consent or not. Hardly anyone who gets surface piercings on their hips or stomach manages to keep them for long, and they usually end up with some lovely rejection scars as a souvenier of the experience. I get that you’re a teenager and therefore know everything, but you’re really going to have to accept your parent’s advice on this one - wait until you are 18, and get it done by an excellent artist with a portfolio of healed, well-done surface work for the best chance of healing them out.
- Lori St.Leone
+1 / 1 votes
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Tuesday August 28th, 2007 @ 8:51 PM
i’ve heard multiple mentions about something called an autoclave, but i’m tired of guessing what it is. can you enlighten me on this?
You work in the piercing studio up the road, don’t you? I knew it…
No really, Google’s fun.
- Lori St.Leone
+2 / 2 votes
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Tuesday August 28th, 2007 @ 8:28 PM
hey - a friend just told me about how HER friend just got her tooth pierced. apparently she had someone drill a small hole in her tooth and put a ring through. have you heard of this?
It sounds pretty implausible to me, honestly, but then, there are plenty of hacks out there who’ll do any kind of bad-idea ignorant piercing you can come up with, just to get the picture in their portfolio or whatever. I HAVE seen people with barbells wedged through their gums, just between their teeth, and that seems like a pretty stupid idea to me - but then, I’d rather have healthy teeth than an OMG-ORIGINALPIERCING!!
I seriously doubt that you’d ever be able to talk a dentist into approving deliberately weakening a tooth like that, especially when you can have a tooth gem glued on by a dentist and have it last for months and months. Also, I’m pretty dubious of friend-of-a-friend anecdotes on principle…
- Lori St.Leone
+2 / 2 votes
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Tuesday August 28th, 2007 @ 3:24 PM
i just pierced my hips with a large saftey pin. and iv looked every where for a barbell large enough. do you have any suggestions on where i can get one?
Bizarro world might be the only place you have a chance of healing something like that.
- Ryan Ouellette
+5 / 5 votes
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